The Entombment of Christ (Michelangelo)
|
| The burial of Christ |
|---|
| Michelangelo Buonarroti , around 1500/01 |
| oil on wood |
| 162 × 150 cm |
| National Gallery (London) |
The Entombment of Christ is one of the few surviving panels by Michelangelo Buonarroti , and has been hanging in the National Gallery in London since 1866 .
origin
The picture is probably an unfinished altarpiece that Michelangelo painted for the Church of Sant'Agostino in Rome . The painting probably ended up in the Farnese Roman collection , where it was still in 1649 , before going through various Roman collections. Around 1846 it came into the collection of Robert Macpherson and in 1868 the National Gallery in London .
Attribution
After its discovery by the professional world, the authorship of Michelangelo was suggested for the picture in 1864 by Cornelis and Friedrich Overbeck . This ascription was accepted by some of her colleagues, while others rejected it. The rejection was mostly based on the fact that the image whose origin is at 1510 / 11 ansetzte, not chronological between the so-called Tondo Doni and the painting of the Sistine Chapel would fit. At the same time, however, the high quality of the picture was recognized, so that it was later assigned to the so-called Master of the Manchester Madonna , although a considerable contribution by Michelangelo himself was recognized.
It was only later that it was recognized that the table must be a good decade older than previously assumed. Speaking at a small exhibition about the young Michelangelo, the 1994 / 95 was organized by the National Gallery in London, the image of a detailed scientific study was subjected. This solidified the opinion of the experts that it must actually be a work by Michelangelo and identified it with the tablet for Sant'Agostino. This attribution is confirmed by two early drawings in Paris ( Louvre : Kneeling Naked Girl and Standing Male Nude ). Later drawings, which also deal with the burial of Christ, show similarly grouped groups of figures.
content
The picture shows the body of Christ, flanked to the right and left by Saints John the Evangelist and Nicodemus . He is supported by the unfinished Joseph of Arimathea . To the right of Nicodemus you can see Maria Magdalena and to the left in the foreground an unknown saint who could be identified as Maria Salome . On the right in the foreground, only to be recognized in outline, is the Virgin Mary .
literature
- Charles de Tolnay / Ettore Camesaca, Classics of Art - The painted work of Michelangelo , Kunstkreis Luzern - Freudenstadt - Vienna, 1966
- Michael Hirst / Jill Dunkerton, Making & Meaning the young Michelangelo , London, 1994, ISBN 1-85709-066-7 (hardcover) and ISBN 1-85709-065-9 (softcover)